Famous Guide at Waterloo

Through one of Waterloo 200’s associations with the website, The Online Book Company, a fascinating story has come to light. A lady in the United States has unearthed her ancestor as Joseph Munday who was a friend of Sergeant Cotton and took over his guiding business on the battlefield of Waterloo when Cotton died in 1849.

Joseph Munday, being a fellow 7th Hussar at the Battle of Waterloo took over the running of the hotel and museum, and began working as a tour guide in place of him. This was the kind of work that Joseph Munday excelled in. One of these many accounts comes from “Household Words, Volume 3,” by Charles Dickens 1851. “In Waterloo, there is an excellent hotel kept by Serjeant Munday, an Englishman who was in the battle, and who has succeeded as guide to his brother-in-law, the late well-known Serjeant-Major Cotton, the author of the admirable little guide-book.”

He and his family subsequently emigrated to the United State and set up in the State of Iowa. It is a fascinating story.